Xen drifted down into the lake's depths among a landslide of rubble. Twisting his body, he looked up at the surface above him and watched in awe as dozens of monsters' silhouettes thrashed around desperately as their bodies reacted with the water, boiling the lake into steam.

  Ah, it's so beautiful, Xen thought, spreading out his arms and continuing his slow descent, aided by the heavy armor he still wore. Just a few days ago, I was a tiny slime that any monster could trample on without a second thought. But now, he grinned wildly, I'm the hunter, the slaughterer, and a trio of humans are depending on me for survival. Is this what having strength is like? The power to orchestrate who lives and dies in my presence?

  At this rate, he was going to get addicted to this feeling.

  His body came to an abrupt stop with a dull thunk as he settled on the bottom of the lake atop a newly formed pile of rubble. Sitting up, he continued to enjoy watching the slaughter of his design.

  You have killed multiple opponents. Bonus experience awarded.

  Experience split between [Necrovore Slime] and [Human] form.

  [Necrovore Slime] is pending an evolution.

  [Human] is pending an evolution.

  Experience distribution is pending.

  Xen was glad to learn that he wasn't going to be denied the large amount of experience that killing so many monsters would give him.

  You have two evolutions pending.

  Do you wish to begin the evolution process of [Necrovore Slime]?

  [Yes/No]

  "I can't do both at once?"

  No. You must complete one at a time, in the order they were received.

  "Okay, then let's start with Necrovore Slime."

  [Generating evolution options...]

  [Having already selected your primary evolution path, fewer evolution branches are available moving forward. However, due to your extensive list of achievements, two evolution options are available to you]

  "Two? Not quite as many as the four last time, but I like having options. Show them to me with the new skill and passive."

  Select your path forward. Warning: Evolution choice is permanent.

  [Option 1: Graveborn Slime]

  The Graveborn Slime is a necrotic warlord that specializes in harvesting ambient death energy and manipulating weak undead. Usually created by Archlich's as part of their armies, Graveborn Slimes can become stronger in proximity to corpses or undead allies, possess a rudimentary connection to death mana networks, and can animate lesser undead from residual energies.

  Skill: [Raise Corpse (C)]

  Raise a weakened undead from a fresh corpse. The resulting undead is slow, has minimal intelligence, and decays over time, but will obey simple commands and serve as a distraction or sacrificial pawn.

  Passive: [Grave Overseer]

  When standing on a grave, receive a significant boost to death mana regeneration.

  Interesting. So, Graveborn Slimes are made by liches and seem to possess the capabilities of raising undead, albeit weak ones. I would also get stronger when standing on ground designated as a grave. Does that just mean a place that has a lot of dead bodies around, or do they need to be buried for it to count as a grave? Xen pondered, yet the system provided no answer. Either way, this was certainly an exciting option. It would allow him to start raising his own armies, and even if they were weak, he could use the undead to trigger traps, distract enemies, and retrieve corpses. He could even use them as walking wardrobes, carrying around items and outfits that he could change into. The possibilities that an extra set of hands offered were honestly endless.

  System, what is the next option? I'm really curious now.

  [Option 2: Necroplague Slime]

  The Necroplague Slime is a rare evolution of the Necrovore slime with a further focus on wielding death mana and lifeforce manipulation. Greatly feared by all living beings, the strength of Necroplague Slimes lies in their deathly curses, plagues, hexes, and mana-corrupting effects.

  So while the Graveborn Slime focuses on abilities related to corpses and raising armies, the Necroplague Slime seems to focus more on spell-slinging. I wonder what skill and passive this evolution would give me...

  Skill: [Withering Hex (C)]

  Fire a thin beam that inflicts a single target with rotting energy. The target takes further necrotic damage over time and suffers a reduction in their physical defense and magic resistance. The effect is enhanced against already wounded foes.

  Passive: [Blight Aura]

  Enemies within 5 meters suffer a slowly stacking debuff that reduces healing, regeneration, and magic defense. Corruption-type effects last longer depending on the number of stacks a target is burdened with.

  Xen nodded in approval. It seemed that this was another pivotal evolution decision, leading to two main evolution branches. On one side was the Graveborn Slime, which would likely further evolve into some kind of slime lich capable of leading armies, while the Necroplague Slime fought directly with curses and debuffs.

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  Oh, now this is going to be a hard decision. Both options sound very enticing. Even in my current situation, both are useful. Even if they are weak, raised undead could help me fight off the Underworld Orcs' undead, while the Necroplague Slime would help me with the boss...

  Xen's eyes narrowed. If his ultimate goal here was to kill the floor boss, there was a high chance he would obtain the Underworld Orcs' Raise Claybound skill. Furthering that point, he already had the Undead Mage form, which, while currently lacking the ability to raise the undead, there was no doubt he would come across another one eventually and siphon the necessary skills from their minds.

  This led Xen to lean more towards choosing the Necroplague Slime.

  Also, my slime form shouldn't focus on direct combat; rather, it should help support my other forms, as switching between forms is my strength as a shapeshifter. On its own, specializing in curses, plagues, hexes, and mana-corrupting effects would make fighting alone difficult, but when paired with the combat capabilities of a human Spellsword with an Orc's regeneration? Now, that is an unbeatable monster.

  Xen paused and looked up at the now clear water above him. Only a few bones and remnants of the dead Clay Orcs and Goblins floated down to join him in the depths.

  So much of the Underworld Orc's power is invested in minions to fight for him, Xen mused, raising his hand to grab an orc's rib that was as long as his arm. Against a regular hunting party, such an army would either overpower the humans or wear them out sufficiently that defeating them directly would be easy. But what about high-level foes or ones who do not tire, like me? A swarm tactic with weaklings is worthless.

  What Xen wanted was the power and the capabilities to kill anything that threatened his existence. That meant he had to pick skills and forms that allowed him to bridge the gap and punch above his weight class—and that's precisely what debuffs and curses allowed one to do—to level the playing field.

  With that line of thinking, the choice felt obvious. Xen could pick one while getting all the advantages of the other via other forms.

  "System, I choose Necroplague Slime."

  [Evolution to Necroplague Slime Confirmed: Time until completion 59 minutes and 58 seconds]

  I hope those humans can hold out for an hour, Xen thought as he felt his consciousness begin to fade.

  ***

  After a while, the steam had cleared, and the Underworld Orc wasn't sitting idle with enemies across the river. Rising from his clay throne, the towering giant raised its hand, and power began to crackle between the bone totems spiking out of its hunched back.

  "Earth manipulation!" the Underworld Orc said. To Randy and the others, the spell name might as well have been Hades welcoming them to the underworld. The ground trembled, and multiple rock bridges began sprouting across the lake. As they extended, earth pylons plunged down into the lake to stabilize them, and unlike the Clay Goblins, the bridges held firm.

  Randy narrowed his eyes at the horde of monsters eagerly waiting across the lake. They were practically salivating at the sight of the three humans who were exhaustedly sitting on the little bit of coastline left after Gerald's stunt.

  "You have got to be fucking kidding me," Randy cursed, slowly picking up his bow. Despite still being soaking wet from the wave earlier, he was hot. The cave was incredibly humid, so it felt like a steam room at some fancy spa—except the staff was far from welcoming.

  "Where is Gerald?" Valoria asked, her voice shaking as she gripped her staff tightly.

  "Vesper?" Randy turned to his friend. "You've always been good at keeping track of time. How long has it been?"

  "About fifty minutes if I had to guess," Vesper replied after a moment of thought.

  "Fifty, huh? That's not long enough." Randy's expression hardened as the bridges made landfall on their side of the lake. With a roar from the boss, its many minions began marching across in single file.

  Valoria shakily stepped up to one of the bridges and planted her staff onto it. "Ground manipulation," she chanted, making the bridge start to crumble. However, earth mana from the Underworld Boss continued to flow into the bridges, fighting against her attempts.

  "Ack, he's way too strong," Valoria cried out as a spike erupted from the bridge, almost smacking the staff out of her hand. She slowly walked back, her eyes shaking in fear. "We are doomed."

  Standing up and ignoring how his sore body cried out for him to rest, he picked up his bow. Glancing between a terrified-looking Valoria and a frowning Vesper, he held out his hand.

  "Friends."

  They both glanced at him.

  "I have trust in Gerald that he will return in an hour as promised and save us, but until then," he looked over his shoulder at the marching monsters, "it looks like we have a lot to do. To herald his arrival, we will fight until the bitter end against these foes, and there aren't two other people I'd rather do it beside."

  Vesper laughed and shook his head. "A terrible speech as always, Randy."

  Randy snorted. "Shut up, Vesper, it's not like you would do any better."

  "True," he said, smirking. Standing up, he stretched his back and twirled his dual daggers in his hand. Breathing deeply to steady his nerves, the Shadowblade narrowed his eyes. "I'll take the left bridge. Are you able to take the central one?"

  "I can, but I'm out of mana—eh, Valoria?" He blinked at the hip flask shoved into his hand.

  "Take it," Valoria said.

  "But didn't you say you needed it?"

  "I do," she frowned, "but I can hold my own without it, while you can't. So take it and do a good job defending us all."

  Randy was taken aback and didn't know what to say as Valoria left to stand before the rightmost bridge. She paused before it, holding her staff firmly in hand and wearing a determined expression. Yet he could tell that her arms and legs were ever so slightly trembling in fear.

  Vesper whistled and whispered in Randy's ear. "Doesn't she look cool right now?"

  "Idiot," Randy hissed back, "she's going to die without mana. There's no way she can hold off so many enemies by herself without mana to draw from as a druid."

  Vesper shrugged, "Don't you think she knows that? Yet she still chose to give it to you," he smirked and walked off to his designated bridge. "I sense love in the air!"

  Love?! Screw that, this is a life-or-death battle. Randy thought, glancing down at the cool hip flask in his hand. Gritting his teeth, he unscrewed the cap and winced as the intense mint smell of condensed mana blasted him. He took one last look at the quivering Valoria and steeled his heart. Returning it to her would just be insulting, and she was right—he needed mana the most out of them right now.

  "I'll use this mana entrusted to me to protect us all," he said before chugging it and feeling the beautiful rush of mana flood his system. Drawing back his bow and summoning a mana arrow, he aimed down the bridge at the grinning Clay Orc marching at the front.

  "While we may be weakened, it seems the Underworld Orc has deemed us an easy target. Let's remind these brainless beasts that we are Hunters, and ones that outlevel this area."

  "Roger that," Vesper said, charging forward with inhuman speed and instantly decapitating multiple Clay Goblins in a spin of blades. Valoria also charged forward, swinging her large staff sideways and knocking the monsters into the lake.

  "Piercing Volley," Randy said, empowering his mana arrow as much as he could and letting it fly. Right into that grinning Orc's face—exploding it like a watermelon blasted with a sniper. The lumbering beast toppled backward from the force, taking a few more Clay Goblins with it.

  You have killed multiple opponents.

  [Archer] has leveled up: 23 -> 24.

  Randy felt a rush from the dungeon, filling him with hope—which swiftly went cold as he saw the next Clay Orc take the last's place. That wasn't all. He could see Valoria struggling to deal with a single Clay Orc on her bridge, and Vesper had also fallen back after his initial burst of kills.

  Gerald, please come save us soon—but until then, I'm not letting any of my friends die. Randy pulled back his bowstring once more and began rapidly shooting mana arrows not only at the monsters on his own bridge but those on the other two as well.

  No matter how much his head pounded from mana deprivation or how his biceps burned from the strain, he would not stop fighting. He was a Hunter, and he would persevere because he had hope that a certain monster would rise from the depths of the lake and slaughter all who stood before him.

  But until then, Randy vowed he would not falter and fight to the bitter end.

  to read ahead!